Harbourside: Quantifying the ecosystem services of a benchmark urban redevelopment 

Chief investigators

Fraser Torpy (UTS)

Purpose of project

Harbourside is a large scale, luxury residential development planned for completion from 2026 that will incorporate unprecedented levels of plant cover and vegetation.  

The UTS team, internationally recognised as leaders in the study of plant-based systems in the built environment, will use a comprehensive set of measurement techniques to capture how Harbourside’s green infrastructure delivers combined environmental, social and economic benefits. 

Harbourside is a unique opportunity to fully, accurately and simultaneously quantify all ecosystem services and the interactions between them provided by a major urban development in a sensitive, high impact location.  

These findings will provide a blueprint for future green developments across Australia and internationally. The opportunity to comprehensively study a project of this type is unlikely to be replicated in the near future. 

Impact of project

With its prominent Sydney Harbour location, Harbourside provides the perfect testbed. It is a highly urbanised location, ideal for pioneering sustainability improvements. The research will create practical, transferable knowledge that supports better design of green, climate‑resilient precincts across Australia’s cities. 

No Australian study has brought all of this together at this scale before. We will be using: 

• Thermal infrared imaging to measure heat‑island effects 
• Portable gas exchange systems to directly measure carbon fixation by plants on site 
• Environmental DNA sampling to build a detailed picture of biodiversity and ecological change across the site
• Building energy modelling to understand how greenery affects building performance

Project partners